PROFITS have soared at Hereford garden group Wyevale - a month after it thought it had scotched its chances of an earnings boost by spending £111m on a rival.

The group bought Country Gardens' 39 shops in November, claiming it would be a year before the multi-million pound deal started to boost its coffers.

But less than four weeks later, adjusted profit before tax was posted at £16m - 20.5 per cent up on last year's figures.

Country Gardens had contributed £0.12m to this.

Wyevale's preliminary results, for the year ended December 2000, showed sales had rocketed by 13.9 per cent, up from £95.3m in 1999 to £108.5m last year.

Like-for-like sales had risen by 7.7 per cent, the company said, attributing the rise to the growing popularity of gardening and rising interest from younger age groups.

Operating profit, before interest, exceptional items and goodwill had risen 23.1 per cent to reach £18.8m.

Shareholders can expect a final dividend of 4.23p, making the total for the year 10.41p, an increase of 17.5 per cent.

Earnings per share, including Country Gardens, had gone up 15.7p to 27.2p, up from 23.5p in 1999.

Chief executive Bob Hewitt said the Kings Acre Road group's development programme had seen its number of branches grow to 120. Ten years ago, it owned just 20.

"We remain confident that our successful trading formula, acquisition strategy and store development programme will further improve the profitability of the business," he said.

Chairman Brian Evans added: "Prospects for the garden leisure sector have never been stronger.

"The popularity of gardening continues to increase, as do the number of customers in our key age group of between 35 and 65 years.

"With the acquisition of Country Gardens, we have been able to build on our already dominant position as the leader in the garden retail sector."